Measures

In one of the lower profile energy measures that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed earlier in October (SB 488), California will mandate that all of its major utilities create pilot programs for sharing energy use information among neighbors as a means of spurring more energy saving behavior by residential customers. There is growing data that the psychology of peer pressure works in getting people to take energy saving steps.

A Federal Energy Regulatory Commission conference, scheduled for Dec. 2, will focus on waste heat recovery efforts and other efficiency measures in the natural gas industry. It will run from 9 a.m. to noon. A free webcast of the event will be available on www.ferc.gov.

Williams and Dominion are partnering to develop the Keystone Connector pipeline, designed to carry up to 1 Bcf/d from the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) terminus in Ohio to eastern and Mid-Atlantic markets. Under the proposal, the sponsors want to place the 240-mile pipeline into service by 2013. The proposed pipeline would extend from Clarington, OH, to Williams’ Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco) Station 195 in southeastern Pennsylvania. Williams and Dominion would work with potential shippers to determine the level of interest in the proposal. Williams, through its Rockies Connector project, and Dominion, through its original Keystone project, said they had worked independently over the past two years on various proposals to the Northeast markets with Rockies and growing Marcellus Shale gas supplies. After holding open seasons in 2007, Williams last year decided to combine its Rockies Connector and Northeast Connector projects into the Northeast Supply Project to move gas from Clarington to various delivery points in Transco’s Zone 6 (see NGI, May 12, 2008). Meanwhile, an open season for Dominion’s original Keystone pipeline was launched last year to transport up to 1 Bcf/d from southwestern Pennsylvania, the heart of the Marcellus Shale, to East Coast markets (see NGI, July 7, 2008). The pipeline was to carry gas to Chester County, PA, for delivery to eastern markets through pipes operated by Dominion, Spectra, Williams and NiSource. For information contact Transco’s Jim Moore at (713) 215-3081 or Dominion’s Jeff Keister at (804) 771-4459.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), both members of the Senate Finance Committee, have introduced four measures to expand and improve upon energy efficiency tax incentives for vehicles, homes and commercial buildings and industrial facilities, as well as tax breaks to help consumers and businesses convert to cheaper and cleaner fuels, such as natural gas. The two plan to incorporate the tax incentives in the energy tax package that the finance panel expects to consider this fall.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), both members of the Senate Finance Committee, introduced four measures last week to expand and improve upon energy efficiency tax incentives for vehicles, homes and commercial buildings, industrial facilities and consumers and businesses. The two plan to incorporate the tax incentives in the energy tax package that the finance panel expects to consider this fall.

National organizations representing energy consumers — large and small — urged Congress Monday not to mandate a national approach to push more energy-saving measures. Rather they want states to have the flexibility of varying their approaches to energy efficiency. The national association of state regulators also supports this state-focused approach.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) will be looking for a comprehensive, bipartisan approach on energy measures, encompassing development and drilling for conventional resources as well as energy efficiency, renewables and mitigating energy costs, a senior energy adviser told the Natural Gas Roundtable in Washington, DC, last Thursday.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) will be looking for a comprehensive, bipartisan approach on energy measures, encompassing development and drilling for conventional resources as well as energy efficiency, renewables and mitigating energy costs, a campaign energy adviser told the Natural Gas Roundtable in Washington Thursday.

Responding to a mass of concerns by opponents and critics, FERC last Thursday attached 109 safety conditions and mitigation measures to its order approving the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal and associated sendout pipeline to serve rising natural gas demand in the Pacific Northwest. However, FERC Commissioners said a number of hurdles still would have to be overcome, raising doubts about whether the facilities will ever be built.